Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerN.J. Governor Chris Christie speaks to an audience during a town hall meeting.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie leads a poll of possible Republican nominees for the 2012 presidential race, according to results released by Zogby polling this morning.

The national poll, conducted online, found Christie leading other rumored Republican candidates with 27 percent support. The second place Republican was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney who had 17 percent followed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 16 percent.

Of the Republican candidates polled, Zogby also reported that currently Christie is the only one leading President Barack Obama in a hypothetical matchup. If Christie were to face Obama, the poll finds him leading 43 percent to 40 percent.

Christie has emphatically denied that he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

The poll of Republican voters reported a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points and of all voters a margin of 2.2 percentage points. The poll was conducted between Dec. 30 and Jan 3, after Christie began coming under fire for remaining in Disney World while the state was hit by a blizzard.

The poll was conducted online, as opposed to industry preferred methods of on the telephone.

"There is no margin of error that can be calculated for that kind of poll," Woolley said. "The random selection process has been so severely compromised that margin of error really plays no role."

Woolley said he would have to see Zogby's full methodology to determine if the poll should be considered accurate. But the group doesn't release full methodology, he said, a point that has come under fire from industry groups.

Fairleigh Dickinson's Public Mind polling will be conducting a national poll of possible Republican nominees in the coming weeks, Woolley said. Public Mind uses live interviews conducted via telephone.